Fun Summer Crafts for Seniors

Home Care in Lawrenceville, GA

Summer time is a great time to assemble handicrafts. A project that is easy to do is best, because with minimal effort and low-cost supplies, they create lasting enjoyment. Professionals who work providing home care, provide help making for the person receiving senior care or elder care when they are making a craft project.. The workday of a professional caregiver is fun too, when a project such as one of these crafts is made during a part of the day.

Here are two fun projects to make at home.

Low Cost Bird Feeder

In this project, we make a cool bird feeder to hang near a window and enjoy bird watching from inside. It is a delightful alternative to watching television all the time.

Items Needed:

A large pine cone (or clean bristle brush – get cheap, new ones at the dollar store)

A wire coat hanger

Peanut butter

Birdseed (unsalted sunflower seeds also work when out of the shell)

Twine (plastic lasts longer)

Step 1
Bend the coat hanger inwards, so that there is just barely enough space for the fat bottom end of the pinecone (or bristle brush) to be wedged inside the middle of the coat hanger. Let the rest of the coat hanger extend out from the bottom. This gives the birds a place to land on and rest while they pick at the birdseed.

Step 3
Push birdseed or sunflower seeds into the peanut butter until all surface area is covered.

Step 4
Hang the new birdfeeder outside from a tree branch that is nearest to a window where it will be comfortable to watch the birds eat.

Rainbow Fan

A better way to cool off is to use a colorful fan.

Items Needed:

Electric table fan

Small amounts of acrylic paint in the colors of red, blue, yellow, and green

Artist’s paint brush

Step 1
Unplug the fan.

Step 2
Remove the front cover.

Step 3
Starting from the center and working outwards, using one of the colors, paint a one-inch thick circular band like a ring around the bottom edge of all fan blades, nearest to the center.

Step 4
Using a different color, paint another one-inch thick band on all fan blades a little further out from the center. This is like painting a bull’s eye target, yet using different colors for each ring.

Step 5
Continue painting rings of different colors until reaching the top edge of the fan blades.

Step 6
Let the paint dry thoroughly.

Step 7
Put the fan cover back on. Plug it in. Turn it on and enjoy the spinning colors.

The Benefits
NewsMax Health reports on a study done at the Mayo Clinic that found that older adults who participated in hobby craft activities are less likely than others to development the memory problems of dementia. Additionally, the study found that the earlier in life than the participants engaged in craft activities, the less likely they were to go on to develop dementia, such as Alzheimer’s later in life.